


You Saved Me

by axoxtxhxh



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Canonical Character Death, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Romantic Fluff, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:47:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29552337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axoxtxhxh/pseuds/axoxtxhxh
Summary: Everyone loves Miche right? I hate that he never had the chance to grow as a character so I started writing a little story about what would happen if he didn’t die that day. So this is the first chapter. It wasn’t originally supposed to be the first chapter, but I’m impatient so hopefully the overall story is still good. Thanks for reading!
Relationships: Mike Zacharias & Reader, Mike Zacharias - Relationship, Mike Zacharias/Reader
Comments: 20
Kudos: 69





	1. 1

Y/N could hear Miche’s screams. She ducked down on her horse trying to move as fast as she could. She noticed the bigger, hairier titan approach him after it launched Miche’s horse. She was in the open field, but dipped behind the trees and houses when she saw the abnormals. She was so close now.

“Come on, Miche,” She said to herself. “Hang on just a bit longer.” She flew past the last set of houses and was preparing to round the corner just as the big titan turned the other way. She was taken by surprise and could have sworn she heard him speaking. There’s no way. She tried to pick up more speed as she fully rounded the corner, Miche in sight.

Miche was surrounded, the titans closing it. She wasn’t even sure she had enough space to squeeze in with her horse. Miche was pulling out his blade when she lowered her body as low as she could, leaning over her horse.

“Miche!” She yelled and he turned towards the sound, seeing Y/N racing towards him. She put out her arm and he reached up, grabbing it as they raced past the titans about to catch them, barely making it through. The titans all turned, following them.

He grabbed the back of her saddle and laid there, his stomach on the horse while his legs and arms dangled on either side.

“Shit! Fuck! Holy fuck!” He was yelling, confused that he somehow made it out alive. “I think I shit my pants.”

“Well we aren’t out of it yet.” She looked back, the titans were closing in again. She looked down at Miche, her stomach dropping. His leg was broken, worse than broken and he was losing a lot of blood. “What happened to your gear?”

“I…” He couldn’t think how to explain.

“Nevermind, you take over. I will take care of the titans.” She started to get up.

“No.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Just go through the forest. We can lose them that way… Please.”

Y/N was confused why he was pleading with her, but she followed what he said and went through the forest. It was a lot harder for the bigger titans to follow and they lost the majority of them. A few smaller ones continued following after they made it out of the clearing, but soon they fell behind and Y/N and Miche were safe. Well, as safe as they could be. She headed towards the next set of trees for some cover and slowed down. She jumped off the horse and helped him down so they could catch their breath.

Miche fell to the ground and vomited. He was choking and breathing heavily his body trying to react through his emotional state. Y/N leaned down behind him placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Miche?” She rubbed his back a little. He turned around to face her, wiping his mouth. His eyes were red and pouring, tears falling all over his cheeks. He started panting, his breathing becoming quick and uneven, fighting a panic attack. He reached forward and pulled Y/N into his arms, squeezing her tightly. He sobbed uncontrollably into her stomach and she held him tighter, dropping to her knees so his head laid on her shoulder. “I—It’s okay, I got you… it’s going to be okay, Miche.”

“Thank you,” he whispered into her. “Thank you for coming for me.” She looked at him, not sure what to say. His eyes were still red, the dirt on his face made the tear stains stick out that much more.

“I…” She started, not knowing what to say. She could only watch him struggle to comprehend what had happened.

“If you hadn’t come...” He was crying again. “If you weren’t there… I could… I was going to be…” He bent over to the side on all fours, vomiting again. He struggled to breathe and Y/N continued rubbing his back until he was able to get himself up. She didn’t know what else she could do for him other than be there.

His breathing slowly returned to normal, but he stayed on all fours looking at the ground. Y/N was getting worried about staying in the same spot too long.

“You okay if we get back on the horse? We shouldn’t stay here much longer.” She looked around the woods, getting nervous.

“I think so.” He was completely lost in his head, eyes lidded, tears and dirt covering his face while spit was dripping from his mouth. Y/N reached up with her cape and wiped his mouth then used her hands to wipe the tears off of his cheeks. Miche held her hand at his face, sniffing her palm as he closed his eyes.

“I’m going to need your help getting you back up there.” She helped as he climbed up onto the horse. She again noticed how bad his leg was. We need to get you to a medic. She climbed up herself, sitting in front of him. They made their way back to the base. After 10 minutes of riding, Miche’s head laid bobbling on her shoulder, having either fallen asleep or passed out. Either way, she knew that if she didn’t get him to a hospital soon, he may not make it.

They were less than 80 miles from headquarters, but she wasn’t even sure if they could make it back there today. The sun was already starting to set in the sky and her horse was tired. She slowed down her riding to give herself time to think.

What do I do? I can stop riding here and give my horse a break, but Miche isn’t doing well. I can ride as long as the horse can go, but I don’t even know how long that will be. I can try to remember some of my medical training and try to fix Miche’s leg myself. She turned to look at his leg. Blood was starting to drip from his boot. Shit! I have to do something.  
She pulled off to the side, taking slight cover between some trees and turned around to look at him. His face was pale and sweating.

“Miche.” She shook him. “Miche.” His eyes fluttered open and he looked around, eyes still unfocused. “Miche, I need to—”

He doubled over, leaning forward on her leg and grabbing the back of her jacket, groaning.

“My leg! Shit!” He was moaning and breathing heavily through his teeth.

“Miche. I have to try and stop the bleeding.” Y/N started. He lifted his head and moved it to her shoulder, shaking it. “I’m going to get off the horse. Can you hold yourself up?”

He waited there, unmoving for a while until he pulled his head off of her shoulder, leaning back a little. The front of his hair was soaked with sweat and his lips were turning white. She slowly lifted her leg over the front of the horse, trying to move him as little as possible. She slid herself down off the side and Miche sucked in air quickly as the horse shifted its legs to account for the weight change.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She rubbed the horse, trying to get him to settle. “Can you lift your good leg over to me? I can help if you need.”

“Wait! Wait!” He looked down, taking deep breaths. “I can do it.” His lips were tight, pursed together to muffle his groaning. Y/N watched as he turned to the side, slowly inching his leg over the horse.

“You’re going to need to turn around and lower yourself with your back to me.” Her hand was on his good thigh trying to reassure him. “I’ll lean over and you can slide onto my back. I’ll lower you down.”

“I’m too heavy,” he mumbled, his voice hoarse.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about that.” The corner of her mouth curved a little. “I come from a family of tall men.” She turned around, leaning forward and giving him a seat to land. He turned himself around, wincing as his broken leg moved. He slowed his movements and reached down for her hip to stabilize his landing. Bit by bit, he gently lowered himself onto her and she slowly lowered herself to the ground until he was sitting. He leaned all the way onto his back and let out a deep sigh, taking deep, steady breaths. She watched him before pulling off her cape and tearing off some strips of fabric.

“This might hurt a little.” She warned. He looked at her, his eyes fully focused now, and nodded. She gradually worked the strips around his legs trying to move it as little as possible. He continued breathing deeply, his breath staggering out when she reached under his thigh.

She pulled the strips tight and tied a knot in the middle of his thigh. She quickly went back to the horse to grab her satchel of water and went back to him. She lifted his head and helped him drink some of the water.

“Thank you.” The cool water hitting his throat and cheeks felt good.

“I’m going to take your boots off.” She moved down to his legs, getting more nervous about the amount of blood he’s lost. She reached for the top of his boot.

“Please, go slowly.” He looked down at her and she nodded. She pulled from the top of his boot until it was lower than his knee and then grabbed the foot, sliding slowly. Miche groaned and she slowed the pulling, trying to keep it away from his leg as she continued sliding it off. A little further and the boot was off. His other leg wasn’t as bad, the boot coming off without any issues. She made quick work of the leather straps, setting them aside to use later.

“Can I get you anything?” She was back up at his face.

“I’m re—really co—ld.” His body started shivering and she grabbed what was left of her cape and laid that over him then removed her jacket and laid that on top of him as well. Looking down at his legs, she could see how bad the breaks were. His left leg was broken at his calf, twisting the lower part of his leg and his ankle was severely dislocated. His right leg had some deep cuts on it, but for the most part, it looked okay and since he was able to stand on it earlier, she wasn’t going to worry about it for now.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the trees, climbing up to the branches and pulling some of the smaller, but firmer ones loose. She broke them down to the length of his calf and went back to sit with him.

“This next part is going to hurt.” She looked down at him, her eyes serious and concerned. “A lot.” He looked at her, his eyes round. “You can bite down on this.” She gave him one of the sticks she brought back and he put it in between his teeth and nodded at her.

Back at his legs she was contemplating which bone to adjust first. The dislocated ankle might actually hurt less to realign and maybe she could use that as a buffer before straightening his tibia. Then again, moving his ankle will in turn move his tibia which will probably be just as painful. However, if she doesn’t move the ankle first, then the tibia might not line up properly anyway. Ankle it is.  
She looked back up at him and rested her hands lightly on his heel and the side of his foot. She took a deep breath and as quickly as she could, jerked her hands pushing his ankle back in place with a snap. Miche cried out, his voice muffled by the stick in this mouth. Y/N quickly positioned her hands to readjust his calf and pushed it back in place and he let out a broken wail, his breathing becoming uneven and heavy. He brought his hand up to his forehead, tears flowing out onto the grass below him while his chest bounced up and down as he cried.

“That should be the worst of it.” She tried to comfort him while she placed the sticks in line around his calf and used his leather straps to tighten them which incited a small groan from him. She moved up to his face and saw that he was covered in sweat. She moved his wet bangs out of his eyes and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He looked over at her, his bottom lip curling as he unsuccessfully fought back what was coming.

She knew that look. She knew it all too well when she worked with the scout doctor in her younger years. It didn’t matter how tough you were, how manly you were, how many titans you could kill on your own, pain was pain. Based on Miche’s legs, he was in a lot of pain. He pushed his face into her knees, letting himself cry and she lowered herself more so he could rest his head in her lap.

She brushed his hair back as he pulled himself deeper into her lap, holding her hip and crying into her stomach. His breath was catching, stuttering from his crying and she looked down at him. His eyelashes tinted darker from being soaked with tears, he focused his attention on her belt loop, playing with it. His breath continued catching and she could feel herself losing it. She looked up quickly to blink back tears.

It’s not that she hasn’t seen anyone this bad. She’s seen way worse. She’s held onto men’s hands as they cry in pain and there was nothing she could do for them other than hold their hands feeling the grip weaken as their lives slowly drifted. But this was Miche. She rubbed at the tear stain on his cheek and he looked up at her. His eyes were red from crying, but the color was starting to return to his face and Y/N let out a sigh.

“How are you feeling?” She touched his cheek.

“Better actually.” He smiled lightly.

“Good enough to move?” At that his eyes widened, worrying. Y/N looked around. “It’s going to be getting dark soon. We can’t really stay here.”

She looked off into the distance, looking for anything to help them. A short way away looked to be some houses. She stood up, squinting her eyes to see better.

“It looks like there is a village or something that way. If we go now, we can move slowly and hopefully get there before it gets too dark.” She continued looking around for something to help carry Miche.

“I can get myself on the horse.” He said as if he could read what she was thinking.

“Are you sure? You’ve lost a lot of blood.” She looked back down at his legs. She needed to stitch up the wounds quickly.

“If we can get on the horse, we can get there faster.” He sat up and Y/N dropped down to him to help him. His head was spinning and his vision wobbly. He managed to stand up, his weight on his right leg. She did her best to prop him up and after a couple tried, they were able to get him on the horse. She quickly hopped on and they road to the houses.

It turned out there wasn’t a town, it was a couple houses next to each other, both of them vacant. They slowed down and surveyed the surrounding area. Everything looked okay. In fact, there was a working well in front of the house as well as the great cover the surrounding trees provided.

She hopped down and helped Miche. He was moving much better than before. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and she helped him into the house. It wasn’t big, but they really didn’t need much. There was a bed in the corner and Y/N walked him over there first. There was a fireplace next to that with a small bathroom across from the bed. There was even a little kitchenette with some leftover supplies, she might be able to make them something to eat.

“I’m going to get some water and make sure we have enough firewood for the night.” She walked over to him. “Please rest a little bit.” He nodded, his eyes already half closed.

She went to the well, pulling up enough water for the kitchen and the bathroom, as well as filling up her water pouch. She pulled her horse around to the back of the house where a small cover gave him shelter and she filled up his water as well.

Having something to do was helping her. She was never the kind of person to sit and do nothing while people around her kept busy. Having something to do to take her mind off of their situation was exactly what she needed.

While in the back, she noticed there was some chopped firewood with an axe and Y/N grabbed those, bringing them all inside. She also saw a small patch of potatoes and some wild lettuce and grabbed some of those to make dinner. It was dusk now, the last bit of sunlight slowly disappearing as she worked on lighting a fire.

She chopped the potatoes and lettuce and put them in a pot with water, setting it on the fire. While that was boiling, she found some flour and tried to make a dough for bread, setting that near the fire to cook. It wasn’t the greatest, but it would do well enough.

“That smells good.” Miche was looking at her from the bed, smiling.

“Don’t even try to lie.” She smiled back, walking over and lifting the blankets to check on his legs. “I’m going to need to do those stitches. I found some first aid supplies in the bathroom. Are you okay if I do it now?” He nodded.

She grabbed the kit and started working, first cutting his pants up until the knot she created earlier. It was a little harder now that the splint was on, but most of the lacerations were on his thigh and knee and didn’t look as bad now that his leg was realigned. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had to do this, but the motions came back quickly.

“The stitching and bone stuff, did you learn it from when you studied medicine?” He questioned, looking down at her while she worked. She nodded. “How old were you?”

“I started studying when I was 14.” She told, not looking up from her work. “I did it for about seven years. I was working with a doctor who worked with the military so I saw a lot of these kinds of breaks and cuts.”

“I guess I have twice as much luck as I thought I did.” He laughed. “What made you stop then? seven years is already a big commitment.”

“I decided to join the scouts because I was tired of losing people.” She sighed. “By the time a lot of the soldiers came to us, they were too far gone. I thought if I joined the scouts, I could stop people from dying before they reached the doctor.”

“That’s…” Miche watched her concentrate. He thought of all the people she must have seen, the different and terrible conditions the soldiers came to her in. Most of the citizens never see the horrific situations and deaths that the scouts encounter, but Y/N did, every day. Yet she still took the responsibility, putting herself in danger so more people wouldn’t die.

“Last one.” She moved quickly through the final small cut and covered him back up. “Obviously, it’s not perfect. You should still see a doctor, but it’s good enough to get us there.”

“Thank you.” He said, resting his hand on hers and she smiled.

She went to the kitchen to grab a two bowls and poured soup for them both along with her attempted bread.

“This isn’t too bad.” He said after eating a spoonful of soup. “Better than the mess hall food.”

“I will take that compliment.” She took a bite of bread, dry flour coating her mouth and she swallowed hard trying to get it down.

“It’s like if the mess hall food was shit, this is shit’s cuter younger brother.”

“Ah-ha so you are feeling better.” She chuckled with him.

“But really, it’s not bad.” He kept eating. “So where exactly are we?”

“I honestly don’t know. I thought this was going to be a small town, but it’s just two random empty houses.” She thought about their luck. “It’s nice that it has basically everything we needed. We’re about 50km West of headquarters. So if we leave early enough, we should be able to get to HQ tomorrow afternoon.”

“Well I am feeling a lot better.” He started. “Seriously, after fixing my legs, resting and eating. I might be able to get myself up on that horse tomorrow without any help.”

“Slow down cowboy,” She cautioned, “I’m pretty sure based on the swelling, your right leg is also broken. It was necessary you walk on it for us to get here, but I really recommend you do as little as possible on your feet.”

“Well then how am I supposed to pee?” He joked.

“You don’t want to know.” She said coyly, taking a sip of her water. Miche finished his food and Y/N scooped another bowl for him. “Eat more.”

They stayed quiet for a little as they finished their food. Y/N poured a second bowl for herself and a third one for Miche before taking both bowls and putting them in the kitchen and washing up.

“For a second I thought you were going to force me to eat a fourth bowl.” He laughed.

“I should have.” She added more wood to the fire. “But I want to make sure you have some for tomorrow morning.”

“Well I’m glad for that.”

“Why’s that? You actually looking forward to the taste?” She teased.

“I wasn’t kidding about me having to pee and I’m not sure the plan.”

She sat on the bed next to him trying to think about how to go about telling him. He honestly wasn’t going to like either idea, but maybe if she painted one of them as better, he wouldn’t feel so bad about it.

“Well there is an ideal option and a not-so-ideal option.” She counted on her fingers. “Ideal option: I piggy back you into the bathroom and set you on the toilet.”

“That doesn’t seem so bad.” She smiled at her plan working.

“That’s why it’s ideal, but it’s also the most painful because you’re going to have to move.”

“Let’s start with that one.”

“I figured you would say that.” She pulled off the covers and helped him slide to the edge of the bed. “I’m going to let you move yours legs and I will just help guide.”

“What does that even mean?” He started sliding his left leg off the bed, keeping his knee straight. He barely got the back of his knee to the edge of the bed before he was panting. “Shit.” He tried to move it again and winced, sucking air through his teeth. “I can’t… I can’t…Can you grab it?”

Y/N put her hands under his ankle and under his knee and guided his leg back to the bed. Miche was taking deep breaths, his face already sweating. He shook his bangs out of his eyes.

“Do you want to try turning around? Maybe lowering your right leg first for balance?” Y/N suggested and he nodded. She helped turn him around and he started lowering his right leg, getting it on the floor easily.

“Okay, that was much better.” He planted his foot firmly on the ground. “Can you help lift my other leg and I’ll stand up?”

She moved around the side and put her hands under his knee and ankle again, lifting as he tried to stand up. The second he put weight on his right leg, pain shot straight up from the fracture in his leg and he cried out.

“No, no.” He sat back down. “It’s not going to work.”

“Why don’t you try just climbing my back so your leg doesn’t touch the ground at all?” She turned around and bent down a little to let him climb. “Get on.”

“This is so stupid.” He positioned himself to face her, grabbing her shoulders and pulling himself up a little. Lifting his right leg to her hip, she held on from behind his knee and he started to lift his left leg, but it started aching and he sat back down. “I can’t. Sorry, maybe tomorrow I will be able to. It’s too much right now.”

“It’s fine.” She lowered him down and walked to the kitchen. He set himself back in the bed, with his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath.

“So I guess we’re going with the not-so-ideal option.” He told her as she came back from the kitchen. “What is it anyway?”

His eyes widened, his mouth fell open and sweat starting to form on his face as he looked at what Y/N was holding. She was smiling at him.

“Please no.” He shook his head at the cup Y/N was dangling in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Reader and Miche spend the night in the cabin and hope to make it back to headquarters the next day.

Y/N stood in the bathroom with the door closed, laughing to herself. The look on Miche’s face was priceless. He refused the cup for a good five minutes, pretending he didn’t have to relieve himself until Y/N told him that she would wait in the bathroom while he did it.

“Are you almost done?” She called through the door.

“Stop asking me!” He yelled back, “You’re putting too much pressure on me.”

She put her hand over her mouth to hide her laugh. She could hear what was happening and heard him unbuckle his pants a couple minutes ago, but still nothing. Maybe he needs a little help. She dipped her hands in the water that was in the sink and started making droplet sounds loud enough for him to hear. Within seconds she heard him groan, finally calm enough to let himself go. It took him a couple minutes, but then he called to her.

“You can come out now,” he invited. She opened the door and walked over. He held the cup up to her with his head down and she took it.

“Is it alright if I drink this?” She pretended, hoping to get a reaction out of him. His head flew up looking horrified, eyes wide.

“What the f—no!?” He shouted and she bent over, shoulders shaking as she laughed hysterically almost spilling his urine. “I hate you so much.” He said smiling at her.

“This is what you get for sniffing me all the time.” She walked to the bathroom, still laughing when she dumped the cup into the toilet and washed her hands, coming back to the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. He hit her with the pillow teasingly.

“Are you going to sleep?” He asked her after a couple minutes of silence. She was looking at the fire.

“Eventually.”

“You should sleep. You did a lot today.” He reached over and pulled on her shirt. “And we still have a trip tomorrow. Of which, you will be doing most of the work.”

She turned around to look at him. She looked tired, she was tired. If not only for the amount of activity they had today, but for the amount of worrying she did over him. While she loved all the captains, cadets and people in the survey, she had a soft spot for Miche. He was the first person to help her out when she became a captain and always gave her encouragement when she felt like she wasn’t doing enough.

She was trying not to think about it, but thoughts of the possibility of what could have happened kept creeping in her mind. He held his arms open to her and she laughed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She laid back in the bed, getting under the covers and resting her head on his shoulder with his arm around her back. “You know what I was thinking of?”

“What?” His voice sent deep vibrations through his chest that she felt on her cheek.

“Do you remember that expedition we had like four years ago? That supply mission we had to do when we were setting up a base in that forest of giant trees.”

“Yeah, what was that? The treehouse bases thing?” He pulled his arm up to rest on her waist and reflexively rubbed his thumb against her skin, neither of them really taking notice.

“Yes! That one!” She confirmed. “I never told anyone, but when I was sent with Levi and a couple cadets to scout the western side of that forest, Levi told me stay on my horse and he would scout from the trees.” He watched her as she spoke with her hands.

“I remember him saying that.”

“Yeah, so it was maybe like fifteen seconds into that and I heard a snap and Levi’s voice yelling ‘shit’ so I looked up and saw him tangled in a tree with a huge red mark on his face from hitting a branch.”

Y/N looked up at Miche’s face as the low reverberation in his chest from his laugh shook his body. He had such a warm laugh that it had her laughing with him before she was even able to finish her story.

“I just remember his legs kicking frantically trying to get himself loose.” Y/N imitated Levi’s legs kicking with her fingers and they both were laughing hysterically.

Miche let out a snort and they laughed even harder, barely able to breathe. He was covering his forehead with his hand and Y/N was burying her face in his chest, both of them not even able to open their eyes as they laughed.

“Eventually he got himself loose. I just pretended not to see it.” Y/N wiped her tears from laughing.

“God, I wish I got to see that.” Miche was also wiping the tears from his cheeks.

“My first year as a captain.” She sighed. “It definitely helped me get over feeling like a phony.”

“You didn’t think you were a good captain?”

“Not really.” She confessed. “I mean, I was coming in after you, Levi and Hange. How was I supposed to feel?”

“I don’t know, but I was pretty intimidated.” He looked up at the ceiling. “We all knew of you. You moved up through the ranks so quickly.”

“It wasn’t that quick.”

“You’re too critical of yourself.” He glanced at her, lifting his eyebrow. “My whole life, all I knew was the scouts and it still took me ten years to become a captain and I was really proud of that. You started late after a whole different career and made it in seven.”

“Either way,” She looked up at the ceiling. “My motivation wasn’t to make captain, it was to save people and… I’m not being too critical when I say that I’ve failed at that.”

“You are.” He studied her face. Her mouth was set in a hard line, eyes focused on the ceiling, but her mind was somewhere else. “You saved me.” He spoke quietly, his voice so soft the reminder almost came out as a question.

She turned her head to face him, realizing how close their faces were, their noses nearly touching. She opened her mouth with a silent gasp of surprise. Her heart sped up as their breaths mixed in the small space between them.

“I guess you’re right.” She smiled, moving her face back. “You just better be alive when I wake up.”

“I’m not that easy to get rid of.” He smiled and she moved her head down to nestle into his shoulder.

He looked at the top of her head, leaning in to smell her hair, but stopped himself, remembering the comment she made earlier and pulled his head back, resting it on the pillow.

“Y/N?”

“Hmm?” She hummed sleepily.

“Does it bother you that much if I sniff you?” He wondered.

“Not so much bother me.” She lifted her head to look at him. “Just sometimes I feel like I smell bad. It makes me a little insecure.” His eyebrows moved together and he smiled.

“You never smell bad,” he comforted, trying to restore her confidence. “At least not to me.”

“Oh.” She mouthed, eyes moving around as she thought about it.

“You have a certain smell.” He sighed, looking up at the ceiling as he tried to explain. “There’s something in the way you smell to me that smells… smells really familiar. It can be quite calming actually.”

“We use the same shampoo, Miche.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re the one who gave me the bottle.”

“It’s not like that. And I gave you that bottle because your other shampoo smelled like shit.” He chuckled. “It was ruining your natural scent.”

He readjusted his body, pulling her in a little closer. The top of her head was resting just under his jaw, while her hips and waist were flush against his side. She curled her arms in front of her and rested them on his chest.

“It’s like a smell you naturally have, under all the other artificial fragrances you add. Your natural, biological, unaffected, pure scent. That’s what smells familiar to me… And I lied. It’s extremely calming to me. That’s the reason I do it so much.”

She leaned her head back peering at him while she thought about it. He stared at her, his bangs in his eyes how they always were with a small smile on his lips. It calms him. That explains why he was doing it so much more today.

“Okay then.” She held her hand up to him. “I guess I don’t mind it.”

He didn’t move. He held his smile, looking at her hand before he reached up to hold it, her hands much colder and softer than his own.

He finally looked at her. His smile slowly grew mischievously. She narrowed her eyes at him as she worried what he was thinking. He quickly moved her hand behind her back and pulled her up to him with his other arm and buried himself in her neck, sniffing everything which had Y/N laughing and squirming.

“Miche! It tickles! Your beard!” She wiggled, trying to get away from the tickling sensation of his beard on her neck.

“Sorry.” He laughed, adjusting his face so his chin wasn’t touching her while he moved forward to take deep inhales of her, breathing in as much of her as he could.

His nose was tickling her ears and jaw while his lips grazed her neck. Y/N’s body responded in a way she wasn’t prepared for. Her heart started beating quickly, pounding in her chest while her breathing became shallow and quick. She could feel her cheeks turning pink and a spark of electricity soared through her body, settling in her stomach. Her hand, now released from his, instinctively went to his waist and up his back, pulling him deeper into her neck, her body wishing for more of his touch.

He felt her pull him in and his breath caught, freezing him in place. His heart was racing when he closed his eyes. He was no longer able to focus on smelling her. Instead all he could think about was his nose in her hair and his lips brushing against her neck. Her soft neck. His hand moved to her hip, squeezing lightly as he tried to steady his breathing. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to slowly pull back.

“S… Sorry.” He apologized again, a tint of pink sitting on his cheeks as well. She smiled awkwardly and laid her head back down on the pillow. Miche’s arms resting on the bed now. They both laid there quietly until they fell asleep.

…..

Fortunately, the rest of the ride back to headquarters was as uneventful as they were hoping. The route was clear of titans and the weather was sunny. A small trace of awkwardness was left between them from the night before, but Y/N continued telling herself it was all in her head. It didn’t help that she woke up to Miche rubbing her head and playing with her hair. She had opened her eyes to find him doing it while he slept. Had he been awake, she could have attributed it to him being as affectionate as he always was with her, but seeing his eyes still closed and small snores coming from him made the action feel slightly more intimate.

She felt his arms tighten a little around her as the terrain got a little bumpier, his head still resting against her shoulder. They crossed over some small creeks and hills, still a third of the trip left to go. He was managing really well. He had woken up twice in the night yelling and sweating, nightmares of his encounter with the beast titan.

“How are you feeling?” She called back to him. He turned to face her, his head still resting on her shoulder.

“As good as I can be.” He closed his eyes and smiled a little.

“Is your leg okay?”

“Better than yesterday.” He looked down at it, the movement bothering him a little, but not like the pain from the day before.

She hoped beyond hope that they wouldn’t encounter any titans. If not for the difficulty of how she will get away, but for Miche’s mental safety. She honestly wasn’t sure what would happen right now if he saw one.

They managed to arrive at headquarters in late afternoon. Her horse definitely deserved some sort of reward for the trip it just made. She settled the horse next to the front, getting Miche on her back as they made their way to the sick bay.

“Gosh, your parents must be proud.” She said, grunting as she pushed her way through the mess hall to get to the sickbay.

“Why do you say that?”

“Giving birth to a titan of a son.” She pushed through the doorway and Miche laughed.

“I told you I would walk!”

“I told you I’m not letting that happen. Dr. Otto?” She called, opening the doors. “Dr. Otto?”

A smaller older man walked into the room as Y/N set Miche on one of the exam tables. She turned to look at the doctor and Miche grabbed her hand, keeping her close to him.

“What’s happened?” He asked, walking over and pushing his circular glasses farther up his nose.

“He was caught by a titan.” She spoke quickly and Miche watched them discuss and fill in notes on a piece of paper. “From what I could see, his left leg has a dislocated ankle and tibial spiral fracture. I’m not sure about his right leg, but based on the swelling and bruising, I think it’s a stress fracture of one of his calf bones. I put a splint on him yesterday afternoon after realigning his ankle and leg. Please check that. As well as stitched the lacerations in both of his legs.” She bit her thumbnail waiting for him to answer.

“We will need to check for any other injuries that he may not be feeling yet.” The doctor wrote some more notes.

“I haven’t checked the rest of his body for any other possible injuries yet.”

“We’ll start there.” He said, taking more notes. Y/N nodded, turning to Miche.

“Can you sit up so I can take your shirt off?” She asked just now noticing him holding her hand and she raised an eyebrow at him, smiling.

“What?” He sat up. “I got nervous.”

She pulled his shirt up and over his head, setting it to the side. Miche started to lean back down, but she held him in place, lifting his arms, checking for any bruising, and pressing various areas on his torso.

“Doctor, may I borrow this?” She held up a stethoscope. He nodded and she put it on, checking Miche’s breathing. “Everything is normal. There’s a bit of bruising around the ribs, but it’s nothing too deep.”

The doctor continued writing notes, looking over his glasses to check the work Y/N was doing. He noticed Miche holding Y/N’s hand and looked from one to the other, smiling then going back to his notes.

“Y/N.” The doctor looked at her and she stood up straight. “I have some iodine in the cabinet in my office, can you bring some along with some soapy water and a rag. We need to be careful of any dirt that may cause an infection on any of these cuts. I will also need some gauze.”

“Yes, sir.” He reluctantly let go of her as she ran to the other room.

“You were fortunate to have had someone with such an eclectic knowledge of medicine with you.” Dr. Otto smiled at Miche over his glasses. “Based on your injuries, it’s really unlikely you would have survived had she not been able to slow the bleeding.”

Miche was about to speak, but smiled instead. The doctor leaned forward, checking Y/N’s stitching and moved to see the bruising on his right leg. He had Miche lie down and checked his ribs while he continued talking.

“She’s a gifted captain, yes,” Dr. Otto sat Miche back up, checking his back. “But she has a talent for medicine that can’t be denied. She is even better than me when I was her age.”

The doctor laughed and Miche smiled lightly at him as he tried not to grimace. There was definitely a gentleness to Y/N’s touch that Dr. Otto didn’t have.

“Sometimes she loses sight of the things she really wants because she’s so focused on everyone else.” The doctor went back to his paper and took notes. “I’ll leave it to you to remind her every once in a while.”

“Me?” Miche laughed shyly, wondering what the doctor meant by that.

Y/N walked in with the all of the items the doctor requested and a few additional ones and set them on the side table. The doctor walked to the sink and began washing his hands while Y/N went to the cabinet near the door and pulled out a wooden brace, setting it near Miche.

While the doctor was gone, Y/N started by cutting the splint she made off of his leg, tossing it in the trash. Then moved up to his belt, looking at him.

“I’m going to take what’s left of your pants off.” She started unbuckling and he nodded, laying down. He moved to help her, lifting up to inch them past his butt, but Y/N objected. “Don’t move your legs. I can get this.” She shimmied them off, being careful not to brush them against his stitches.

The doctor made his way back over and looked at Y/N’s work. Y/N backed up to Miche’s side and this time he wrapped his arm around her hip, holding her right next to him while his other hand held hers. The doctor was checking the stitches from his thigh to his calf. He smiled looking up at her over his glasses, chuckling.

“This is a very good job Captain.” He smiled at her. “You haven’t studied in over ten years, but I can see that you haven’t forgotten.” “Well I did have the best teacher.” She smiled shyly. Miche looked from the doctor to Y/N.

“That you did.” He laughed as he applied the iodine. “Do you think you can remember how to wrap the leg and apply the splint? I imagine I will need to get more supplies if the others might be returning in a similar condition.”

“Have the commander and others left yet or are they still here?” Y/N asked as the doctor took off his lab coat to put on his outdoor coat.

“They received word from a messenger and left about two hours ago.” He put on his hat and left. Y/N turned back to Miche’s leg and he sat up to watch.

“I guess I’m finishing up.” She smiled at him and grabbed the gauze, slowly wrapping his leg, careful not to move it more than needed.

“Why would you have ever quit studying medicine?” Miche asked, his eyes wide as a small smile grew.

“What do you mean?” She looked up from her work. “I told you, I was just tired of not being able to save everyone.”

“I know you want to save people.” He shook his head. “But in the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you as happy or as comfortable… or as focused as you were just now.”

“Really?” She smiled then bit her bottom lip. “I do really enjoy medicine, but I don’t know. It got difficult to see after a while.” She shrugged and finished up the gauze strip, snipping the end and tucking it in then moving on to adding the splint.

“So, when you told me you worked with a military doctor, were you referring to…” Miche nudged his head in the direction Dr. Otto left.

“Working with Dr. Otto?” She nodded. “His wife was a childhood friend of my dad’s. I’ve known him since I was a baby.” She got up, taking the bowl of soapy water to the sink, dumping it and refilling it then walking back over.

“What’s that for?” He wondered.

“Your bath.” She stated in an obvious tone. “I wanted to make sure the water was warm still.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I’m not exactly small.” He joked. “I won’t fit in that.”

“Really?” She asked sarcastically. “You not petite? I had no idea.” She grabbed the sponge and soaked it with the soapy water, bringing it to his face and wiping away the dirt from the day before. She grabbed the dry towel she brought and dried his face afterwards. “Lay down.”

He followed and she continued cleaning his arms and chest.

“Do you think you’ll go back to it?” He asked her, his hand moving back to her hip. She smiled a little thinking about his question.

“I hope so.” She leaned forward to reach for his opposite arm. She squeezed the sponge a little too hard and water dripped down his bicep. She watched as the droplet ran over his muscles and down to his shoulder, her face getting hot.

Normally when she was doing things like this, washing, stitching, wrapping bodies, she never looked at the patients as people, only as parts. Similar to an artist drawing the human body, she was focusing so hard on her job that she didn’t realize a lot of the patients were naked or nearly naked. Not to mention she has seen Miche nearly naked a dozen times, she’s even accidentally walked in on him bathing. So, why now was it so different?

It may have been partly due to that fact that since leaning forward, the hand that Miche placed on her hip slipped down past her butt and now gently rested on the back of her thigh. She was desperately trying to ignore it, but it wasn’t helping that he was rubbing his thumb just under the crease of her butt.

“I hope you get that chance.” He smiled, not realizing the trouble his hand was causing her. She took a deep breath, standing back up. She went to the sink to replace the dirty water with clean water, using this time to focus herself again with a couple deep breaths.

Miche watched her from the exam table. Her hands started shaking when she was washing him. He could smell her nervous sweat all the way from the sink. He so desperately wanted to touch her, to grab her and hold her against him, to feel her heartbeat against his. He took a deep breath and rubbed his face.

“Can you lift your head a bit?” She was back with another bowl that she set next to his head.

“Are you going to wash my hair?” He questioned.

“You aren’t going to be getting into a bath anytime soon.” She smiled. “Consider this a service.”

He lifted his head up and she moved the bowl under it, pouring water on top of his hair then quickly shampooing before rinsing it off and trying to drain as much as she could out. Miche sat up, grabbing the towel she left him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your forehead.” She teased. He laughed.

“Is it everything you dreamed it would be?” “Very much.” She laughed and he dried his hair with his towel, moving it back to his typical hairstyle, bangs hanging down. “I brought you some clothes.” She handed over some hospital shorts and a t-shirt. “You probably can’t wear regular pants for a while with this brace.”

“Thanks.” He slid them on.

“You should rest for now.”

“Where are you going?” He asked as she walked away.

“I think it’s my turn to bathe now.” She put the bowl she used to wash him next to the sink, rinsing it out.

“Can I come with you?” She turned around quickly to look at him, her mouth dropped open and he back tracked, his cheeks tinting pink. “I—I don’t mean—I didn’t mean like… that. I just meant that if maybe I could wait in your room… Just so I wouldn’t have to wait here alone.”

“Oh… Okay.” She nodded slowly. “You had me for a second there.” She moved to the desk, rolling out a wheelchair and setting it next to his bed. “Let’s get you in here.” He climbed in the chair and she rolled him to the bottom of the stairs. She looked at all the steps and she quickly slumped over. Miche started laughing.

“I’m sorry.” He tried holding back his laughter. “Really, I can just drag myself up the steps.”

“No,” she sighed, “It’s fine. I have to get you up here anyway. At least it’s only the second floor.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miche and Reader spend their first night back at headquarters alone.

She was drying her hair as she walked out of the bathroom and saw Miche laying on her bed, paperwork spread out in front of him.

“You’re supposed to be resting.” She sat across from him on the bed.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Miche, are you doing okay?” She asked, looking concern.

“Yeah, why? He sat up, collecting his papers.

“No, I mean… are you okay?” She put her hand on his and he looked at her. “It’s okay to not be okay.”

“I think I’ll be okay.” He smiled at her. “Every time I get lost in my own head, seeing their faces, feeling their hands grabbing me, I always think about how you swooped in and grabbed me. Seeing you… I will be okay.”

“I don’t think I swooped.” She laughed bashfully.

“It was definitely a swoop. How did you even lift me up?”

“I have no idea.” They both laughed, but Miche’s smile faded quickly and Y/N new he wasn’t as okay as he was letting on. “Why don’t you rest while I work?”

Y/N grabbed a textbook from her nightstand and sat on the other side of the bed, her back against the headboard. She opened the book and patted her lap and Miche laid his head there. She set the book on her knees and started reading.

She read a couple paragraphs and absent-mindedly brought one hand to Miche’s hair, brushing her fingers through it and massaging his scalp. She continued for a couple minutes until she heard him audibly exhale and stopped.

“Sorry.” She looked down at him. “Was I keeping you awake?”

“No.” With his eyes still closed, he smirked. “You were kind of turning me on a little.”

“Oh.” She removed her hand from his head.

“I’m not entirely against it, I just can’t do a lot of the work—”

“Don’t even think about it.” She went back to her book and he chuckled at her. He quickly fell asleep. Y/N listened to his quiet snores and felt herself getting lulled to sleep. She closed her book and set it on the night stand, leaning down and laying her head on Miche’s side.

When she woke, the room was dark and unbearably silent. If it weren’t for Miche still snoring, it would have been eerily quiet. She rubbed her eyes and sat up which caused him to stir awake.

“I just want to light some candles,” she said tying her hair up and lighting the candles on both night stands as well as in the bathroom. “It’s so dark and quiet when no one is here.”

He propped himself up on his elbows and watched her.

“I need to use the bathroom, do you need a cup?”

“Ha…ha.” He smiled, yawning. “I’m fine.” She went in the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

When she came out, Miche was still laying in her bed. This time in his underwear.

“No…no.” She shook her head and finger at him.

“What? I don’t even take up that much room.” He gestured to the bed, his body clearly taking up nearly eighty percent of the space. “You know what? I think we’re both stressed out. The last two days have been hard. We need to just relax and I think we need some wine. Don’t you think we need wine?”

“No… actually, I might need wine…”

“Yes!” He pumped his fist to show his excitement.

“But more importantly, you need to put some clothes on and get out of my bed.” She laughed, pretending to cover the view of his body with her hand. “Where are your clothes anyway?”

“These are my pajamas.”

“Your underwear?”

“Well no, I actually sleep naked, but I did this for you,” he said grinning at her.

“How thoughtful.” She sat on the bed, her back to him and she pulled on socks. “Don’t you feel any shame or embarrassment at being nearly naked in front of a random person?”

“First of all, there’s no shame in being naked.”

“Okay, very true.” She nodded along with his assertion.

“Secondly, I feel no shame being anything in front of you. You’ve seen me at quite possibly my worst moments, near death, ugly crying, drool and vomit on my face.”

“You’re not wrong about that.” She turned to look at him.

“I could do anything in front of you and I’d still feel no shame.” He smiled at her and they sat quietly for a moment before she remembered their original conversation.

“So when are you getting me that wine?”

Miche opened and closed his mouth. He obviously had no way of actually getting it.

“I’m kidding. I’ll get it.” She stood up. “I’m bringing the good stuff.”

Miche watched her as she left the room into the dark hallway. A couple minutes later she came back in with a bottle and a small box.

“We can’t tell anyone about this. This was from the top shelf.” She skipped happily back to the bed. “Open it, please.”

She handed him the bottle and he started to open it while she opened the small box she was carrying and set it between them. Inside was a couple of rolls sliced open with cheese on it. He handed the opened bottle to her and watched as she took a sip. He had no idea what was happening to him, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. The way she held the bottle in her hands, the way she brought it to her lips, the way her pajama shirt hung on her shoulders, almost wanting to slip off. He wondered if she had anything on under them.

“Dang, this is good!” She looked at the label, not really knowing what it meant anyway and handed the bottle to Miche.

He took a sip, his eyes still on her. He could almost taste her as his lips touched the bottle. He took another sip as she rubbed her thighs moving closer to the box. She leaned forward to grab some bread and her sleeve fell off her shoulder, Miche took a big gulp.

“Hey! Save some for me!” she complained. He almost choked laughing at her. She took the bottle and took another sip herself. “I hope you weren’t too hungry. I didn’t actually feel like making anything.”

“This is fine.” He took a bite of a roll. What was this feeling? He felt like he just needed to be close to her, touching her, smelling her. She was one of those people that could live without affection and he had to stop himself so many times because he loved the feeling of her hand in his, her body in his arms, her legs brushing against his own.

Y/N ate her bread and kept stealing glances at Miche. He was staring at her, but he was lost in his thoughts. She kept looking over, waiting for him to look away from her, but he didn’t. She was starting to feel insecure as she always did when he stared at her like this.

“What are you thinking about?” She finally spoke up, her voice waking him from his thoughts.

“That I need some more wine.” He took another sip. She watched him as he looked away.

“How much more wine do you need to have before you will tell me what you’re really thinking?” She narrowed her eyes, knowing there was more to it than just that, but she also didn’t want to pry. She took another bite of her sandwich.

“Probably the rest of this bottle.” He held it up, looking at what was left. The two of them had already finished half the bottle.

“Maybe we should save the rest of that.” She took the bottle and stuffed the cork back in, hiding it under her bed. “I’m already feeling a little more buzzed than I’m comfortable with.”

“That’s not the worst thing in the world right now.” He laid back on the bed with his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. “We’re both stuck here…” He looked at her, “…alone.”

“You’re not wrong about that.” She moved the empty box onto her floor completely missing his overtone. “You tired?”

“A little bit. I can stay up if you need me to.” Another insinuation in his answer.

“No, I’m tired too.” She agreed, missing it again.

Miche moved his legs and lifted the covers, settling himself under them and smiling up at her.

“You really don’t want to sleep in your own bed?”

“I really don’t want to be alone,” he confessed.

“Okay, but I’m getting your blanket from your bed. I don’t want to freeze when you steal the covers.”

“I don’t steal covers.”

“Sure.” She laughed and ran across the dark hall, grabbing his blankets and going back for another pillow. Luckily his room was right across from hers, otherwise navigating the hallways in the darkness after that wine would have been difficult.

When she returned, Miche was snuggled up on his side, smiling at her. She threw his pillow at him and climbed into bed, covering herself with his blanket then blew out the candles.

“Do you think everyone will be back tomorrow?” He asked, his voice moving closer to her as he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chest against her back.

“I doubt it. It took us over two days to get back here and we were right behind Thomas.” She pulled herself under the covers a little more. Miche thought about what the doctor had said. Without her, he probably wouldn’t be alive. She has carried him more times today than he has ever carried her. She is letting him sleep in her bed, sacrificing space and comfort when she is the one needing rest. He leaned into her neck, breathing her in.

“Thank you, Y/N.” He held her tighter. “For everything.”

“It’s no problem.” She mumbled, quiet snores quickly following.

…..

Miche started moving around in the middle of the night, but he still had his arm around Y/N so that his chest was against her back. In the many years she has known him, Miche has always been affectionate, at least towards her. It may not be as much as it has been these last few days, but he was always trying to grab her, hold her, sit next to her, steal her food, just annoying her in any number of ways. It wasn’t really new.

So when she woke up to him squeezing her arms and waist, she was just going to go back to sleep. That is until she heard him starting to whine. He was breathing heavily and trying to call out.

“Miche.” She sat up, rubbing his cheek. He was covered in sweat. “Miche, wake up.” She moved her hand to his shoulder and shook him a little and when that didn’t work she went back to rubbing his cheek. “Miche.”

His eyes shot open and he looked right at her, eyes wide, his mouth slightly open. His breathing was still heavy, but he started taking deep breaths and blinking.

“I—It was just a nightmare.” He licked his lips and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

She laid back down, taking her hand away from his cheek and he turned to lay on his other side, his back to Y/N. She watched his shoulders quiver as he tried to release his emotions in silence. She sighed quietly and moved closer to him, wrapping her arm around him, her chest flush against his back.

“You’re not alone. I’m here.” She whispered. He tensed up at her touch and then immediately relaxed into it, exhaling. “I know you’re suffering. Don’t let yourself suffer alone, okay?”

He turned his body around and looked at her. She wiped away the tears that were still on his cheeks and let her hand rest there. He didn’t know what to say to her, but he wished he was able to explain what she meant to him.

He owed her his life and all the things she’d done for him since. She watched over him, took care of him, she wakes up with every single one of his nightmares and makes sure he is okay. He moved his hand to her cheek and rubbed her cheekbone lightly with his thumb.

She always had issues expressing her own affection whether it be to him or someone else. Shortly after getting closer with Miche, she had learned to accept his, knowing he loved being close to her and she was okay with that, but recently, she found that his touch has been making her feel a little different. Even the smallest touch of his hand to her cheek has been making her cheeks hot.

Warmth quickly spread throughout her cheeks and he could feel it under his hand. He felt so much appreciation for her, so much admiration, so much affection. He cherished her and with that came the feeling of needing to hold her and be close to her. In this moment, however, was the first time he felt the need to kiss her.

He leaned in a little closer to her, but knew he shouldn’t, he instead lowered himself so he could bury his face in her neck, their chests flat up against each other. He pulled her thigh over his waist as he positioned his leg in between hers. His hand rested low on her hip, just at her butt.

She gasped, holding his shoulder as he moved her body as effortlessly as he would a doll and shifted them where he felt comfortable. His face was in her neck while his hand rested on the edge of her shorts, fingers grazing just above the hem. She was thankful he wasn’t able to see her face.

Miche has always been affection and touchy with her, but never like this. They’ve cuddled together while sleeping, but even that was never as intimate as this was. He was so warm and his calloused hands felt rough but so good on her skin. His breath was hitting her chest and she could tell how quick and shallow his breathing was. He sniffed her neck and squeezed her hip, barely enough pressure for her to feel, but she felt it. She put her arm over his upper back and leaned into him.

He was pushed deeper into her neckline, his nose hitting her collarbone. He could easily brush his lips against her soft skin and say it was an accident. His breathing quickened as he looked down. He had to close his eyes, but couldn’t stop himself from squeezing her plush skin under his hand. She most definitely wasn’t wearing anything under that shirt.

He reluctantly moved his hand from her hip to her lower back, forcing himself to take deep breaths until he was calm enough to sleep.

…..

“I told you that would loosen your stitches.” Y/N lectured, examining Miche’s leg in the sick bay. They were both waiting for Dr. Otto to come in for Miche’s next-day check-up. “But did you listen to me? Nope.”

“It was worth it though.” He smiled cheekily and Y/N looked down to hide the blush that reached her cheeks.

Earlier that morning, Miche thought it would be funny to tickle Y/N. They had woken up in a difficult position. Miche laid on his back while Y/N lay nearly fully on him, her thigh over his stomach. Her head and chest were half on his chest, her head resting just under his jaw. She woke up when he started moving his hand up and down her back.

She groaned and he started laughing, causing her whole body to bounce up and down. She lifted her head and saw him laughing at her.

“Ugh, you’re so annoying,” She grumbled sleepily, moving her body to face the other way and he laughed even harder.

He turned himself to face her back, smiling at how cute she was. He brushed his fingers lightly against her arm and she shook him off. He kept going.

“It tickles,” she mumbled, shaking him off again.

He waited for a moment, he knew she wasn’t sleeping. He reached forward and started tickling her ribs.

“Miche!” She tried to turn her body to face him, but that only gave him more room to tickle. He moved closer to her, sliding himself across the bed. “Don’t move like that!” she spoke between laughing, “you’ll mess up your stitches!”

He didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was seeing her laughing. She started swinging her arms to stop him, so he pulled himself on top of her to hold her down. He completely miscalculated just how much bed was left for him to do that and fell straight to the floor.

“Are you okay?” She quickly leaned over the side to check on him.

“Fine.” He was groaning and rubbing the back of his head. She looked at his legs and got out of bed, quickly climbing over him to check. He was bleeding through the gauze, fresh, bright-red blood.

“Damn it, Miche.” She sighed.

Dr. Otto walked into the sick bay and removed his coat and hat, putting on his lab coat.

“Good morning to you,” he said, making his way over to them. He pushed his glasses further on his nose and looked down. “Ahh, your stitches came loose. Must have been quite the tussle between you two.” He looked at both of them, smiling.

“I told him this would happen if he moved too much.” Y/N commented.

“Ah, well easy enough fix,” he spoke as he walked to the cabinet getting his supplies and coming back to sit in front of them. Miche pulled on the loop of Y/N’s pants and she looked down at him.

“I’m kind of cold. Could you get me a blanket or something?” He asked. She nodded and left to grab one. Miche made sure she was gone before turning to the doctor.

“Dr. Otto?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Yesterday you mentioned that Y/N loses sight of what she really wants because she is focused on everyone else.” Miche started.

“Yes. One of her more difficult attributes.”

“What—Uh… what did you mean by leaving it to me to remind her?” The doctor looked up from his work and stared at Miche over his glasses.

“Mr. Zacharius, I am sure you’re very aware of what happened to Y/N’s family, what happened to her younger brother, what happened to her fiancé.” Miche was nodding as the doctor spoke. “So you know that love has never come easy for Y/N, no matter how much she wanted it, no matter how much she fought for it.”

“But I’m not—” Miche started, but the doctor put his hand up in protest.

“But you are.” Dr. Otto laughed and looked down at his work. “You are. But remember—” he looked back up to Miche “—She will only be ready when she’s ready.”

“Ready for what?” Y/N asked walking in. She brought the blanket to Miche and wrapped it around his shoulders. He watched her, a small smile barely reaching his lips.

“Ready for wrapping.” Dr. Otto stood up. “I’ll leave you to it.”

…..

Erwin and the others came back the next day with the worst news that both Miche and Y/N could have gotten.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miche and Reader find out what happened at Castle Utgard and cope with the loss of their comrades.

Y/N laid awake, not even sure what time it was. Her heart felt like hot lead sitting in her chest and she couldn’t breathe. It was a cool night with a light breeze and any other day she would have slept like a baby, but tonight wasn’t like that. Her friends were dead.

When Erwin and the rest of them came back from helping the scouts, a large percentage of them were missing. In fact, everyone except the new recruits made it back. Hearing that Miche’s efforts in luring the titans away from them weren’t successful put a knot in his stomach. They also found out that two more of the 104th were titans and took off with Eren and another recruit though they were able to return with Eren and some new, helpful information.

It was a lot to take in. Too much, in fact. It ended up sending Miche to his room early. Luckily Y/N was kept busy with helping Dr. Otto with any injured soldiers as well as Erwin. His arm required a lot of work and he needed a lot of rest.

Once all the medical work was done, she had no choice but to sit in her room alone with her thoughts.

She took a deep breath, wiping the sweat from her forehead and sat up, throwing the blankets off of her. The suffocating feeling was too much, there was so much air and yet she felt like she was gasping, drowning inside of herself and she couldn’t get out. Her body was feeling hot, her chest getting tight and her hands were shaking as she stood up to get to the window.

She bent over and held onto the wooden frame, squeezing it and tensing her muscles until she heard it starting to splinter and let go. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. She stood up, going to the bathroom and splashing water on her face. The cold water felt like ice on her skin, the shock calming her body down a bit. She took a couple deep breaths, resting her forehead on the sink’s edge.

Before she really knew what she was doing, she was in the hallway, hand on Miche’s door. She slowly opened it, walking into his office. This was the first night in several days that he wasn’t sleeping in her bed with her and all the emotions of what’s happened the last couple days were coming to her at once and she couldn’t handle it.

She moved to the second door, the one to his bedroom and opened it, stepping in before closing the door behind her. The moonlight wasn’t shining as brightly in his room as it does in hers, but she could see well enough. She took a step forward.

“Y/N?” She hadn’t noticed how quiet it was until she heard his deep voice, a little raspy from sleep -and maybe something else- reverberate through the room. “Is everything alright?”

She could see him sit up in bed and she made her way to him. She managed to let out an ‘Mmhmm’ that was higher than her normal voice, which wasn’t very convincing, before sitting on the edge of the bed next to him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t get the words out. The lump in her throat was so big that if she tried to speak, she knew she would start crying right away. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and clenching her jaw, forcing as hard as she could to make the lump disappear. She could feel his eyes on her and she pushed herself to speak.

“Can—” Her voice came out strained, barely above a whisper. She swallowed. “Can I stay with you?” He brought his hand to her shoulder. “I…” Her voiced squeaked and she paused, “I… um… I…” tears started falling down her cheeks now and she looked down, letting herself cry.

Miche held her cheek, then her face, moved both hands to her shoulders then gave up and grabbed her waist, pulling her into him until she was in his lap, resting her head on his chest.

“It’s okay.” He rubbed the back of her head, his other arm squeezing her tighter.

“They’re gone.” She cried. “They’re all gone.”

Miche rocked her back and forth until she sat back and looked at him.

“I could have helped them—I should have helped them.” She shook her head, her hands covering her mouth. He looked at her.

“This isn’t your fault.” He held her face in his hands. “This is not your fault.”

“I was the only one there.” She tried to look away, but he held her firmly.

“You were helping me, it’s not like you weren’t doing anything. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. They were my responsibility. Do not put this on you.”

“I could have found you someplace safe and left you to—”

“Stop.” He paused, making sure she was looking at him. “Don’t do this to yourself. This wasn’t your fault. It’s not your job to save everyone. They were capable soldiers, it just worked out this way.” She put her hands on his wrists and nodded, tears falling down her cheeks.

He held her there, his breath getting heavier. He didn’t want to see her cry like this. He hated seeing her blame herself. He wanted to do anything he could to make her feel better, to feel good. He moved his hands from her face and looked away.

“Do you want to sleep in here?” He asked her and she nodded. He moved the blanket on the other side of the bed and she crawled in. He then slowly reached to the floor, grabbing the shorts he left there and put them on. He set himself back in bed, letting Y/N sleep close to his chest. He wasn’t really sure if he wanted to admit it, but he was probably going to sleep better with her next to him anyway.

…..

The next few days were hard on everyone, but they were all able to dive into work with the new information they’d learned over the last few days. Hange and Levi went to work with Eren and testing the limits of his titan ability. Y/N was able to bring Miche out to watch as she helped with the evaluation. Working on that as well as Miche starting his physical therapy made it easy to keep their minds going.

Miche laid on his back in his bed and Y/N stood over him.

“It’s still a little too early to do too many stretches because of your stitches, but there are still some things we can work on.” She knelt down on the floor next to him.

“Couldn’t we just skip today,” he wondered, “the stitches come out tomorrow anyway.”

“You’ve been letting the muscle in your leg atrophy for two weeks now.” She put her hands on her hips. “That’s already too long.”

“Yes, Doctor.” He smiled playfully.

“I’m not a doctor—“ She started.

“Yet,” he added.

“Yet,” she repeated. He smiled at her and she tried to smile back, but he could see her eyes looking off at nothing, getting lost in her thoughts.

“Okay, what should we start with?” he asked.

“First, you need to lift up your leg keeping your knee straight.” She separated his legs a little on the bed. “It might be difficult or even hurt a little. Let’s start with your right leg.”

He took a deep breath and slowly lifted his right leg. She could see him struggling a little bit, but he lifted it and lowered it, letting out an exhale as his leg rested back down.

“Okay, that was good!”

“That’s not so bad.” He smiled.

“Alright, now I need you to hold it for twenty seconds before lowering it.” She directed.

“What?” His eyes went wide. “I could barely do what I just did!”

“This is only going to help you when it’s time to start walking. You can sit up if it’s too difficult.”

He sat up, leaning his back against his headboard.

“Shit…” He was breathing heavily.

“It’s my fault.” She sat next to him on the bed. “I shouldn’t have done so much for you these last two weeks.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He smiled. “It’s not even really that bad.”

He turned to look at his legs, lifting the left one up and holding it then setting it down and moving onto the right one. He was panting after the couple minutes it took to reach five repetitions on each side.

“I’ll get stuff ready for your bath.” She stood up, making her way to his bathroom.

He rested his head against his headboard, his mouth hung open as he caught his breath. He sat up, taking off his wet shirt and tossed it to the side, leaning back again.

Y/N returned from the bathroom as he was moving himself to his wheelchair.

“Your bath is ready.” She looked even more down than she did before. “Try not to get your stitches wet. I… I’m going to go see if someone else needs help with something. Is thirty minutes enough time for you? I can give you longer.”

He could see how upset she was. He let her down. He knew she was using him to take her mind off of the recent events and he let her down. He shouldn’t have complained. He should have tried harder with his physical training. He should have made her laugh or done anything else, but he should be making her smile, not feeling worse.

“Why don’t you take time for yourself. I can relax here by myself until dinner.” He looked at her. “I think you could use it.”

“Yeah, maybe. I’ll see you at dinner then.” She left his room and he rolled into his office before taking his bath, getting to his desk and writing.

Y/N looked for anything to distract herself. She moved to Hange to help them organize their research. She helped Levi while he was forcing the cadets to clean. She helped Erwin with any of the decisions he needed. It still wasn’t enough. She had another hour or so before it was time to start preparing dinner so she decided to go to her bedroom and lay down, her body was starting to feel all the extra work she’s been putting on herself.

She walked through her office and into her bedroom, turning to go to the bathroom first. She walked through the open door and something caught her eye on her bed. She stepped backwards a couple steps and looked again to see what it was. Sitting on her bed was a small folded piece of paper.

Her eyes narrowed as she moved closer to see what it said on the front. Written neatly on the folded paper was her name.

She picked up the note and opened it up, sitting on her bed to read it. It was Miche’s handwriting.

_Dear Y/N,_

_I want to start out by saying I’m sorry. I can see what you’re going through. I won’t say I understand it because I know we are feeling very different things right now. We both lost people that were important to us, some of the already small number of loved ones we still have and if I had some special ability, I wish I was able to take away your pain._

_You’re the most resilient person I know and I know you can’t see yourself like that right now, but I want you to know that you’re the representation of the kind of person I wish I could be._

_I’ve often wondered why people have to go through so much. I don’t know that I have the answer to that, but I do know that part of it is to grow. To grow and to learn so we can pass on our knowledge in the hopes that other people will suffer less than we did. It’s a terrible and unfair system that we must live through. Us, scouts, getting some of the worst parts of it._

_I know that you personally have done more than your fair share of this teaching. I can’t imagine the kind of loss you must have felt. If there was a way for me to share this burden, I would gladly accept it._

_I’m thoroughly convinced you’re an angel here in Paradis. You’ve suffered so much more than most and you somehow still find a way to go on. You’re positively inspiring and any encouragement or motivation I’ve had since we’ve met has come from you. I don’t want you to forget that. In this often too dark world, you’re a bright light. You’ve always been my bright light._

_My only objective in life right now is to make you happy. Seeing your smiling face, your unusual sense of humor, your warm comfort, I want it back, not just for you, but for me as well. Maybe that makes me selfish, but I need your smile. You may not think there is a reason to smile, but your smile is what gets me through each day._

_Your heart is in pain. I know. I see it and because of that so is mine. Y/N, please let me in. I won’t speak, I won’t say a word, I will only listen to you. If you don’t want to talk, we can sit together in silence. Let me be for you, what you have always been for me._

_I like to think that some of the best sunshine comes after the rain. You may be crying now, but I promise you the sun will peek through and you’ll get to a place where hope shines. Please remember, there’s always hope. It’s hard to see it sometimes, but it’s always alive._

_Forever yours,_

_Miche_

Y/N’s teardrops slowly hit the page as she read. She quickly wiped them from her face as well as the paper, trying not to smear the ink. She grabbed anything she could find to wipe her nose, sniffling until she grabbed her pajamas and cleaned her face. She threw them into her dirty pile and stood up, making her way across the hall.

There was a knock at Miche’s door. He was lying in bed and propped himself up on his elbows, looking at the door.

“Yes?”

Y/N stood in the doorway. Her eyes and nose were red, tears rolling down her cheeks like waterfalls, but she was smiling at him. His heart was instantly fluttering.

“You’re really going to make me come to your room crying again?” She held up his letter.

He couldn’t tell how she was feeling. She was smiling, but also crying. He was worried that maybe he made her feel worse. Maybe his letter came off as insensitive or rushed. He sat up in bed, his face a mixture of concern and regret.

“Y/N, I…” She moved quickly. One moment she was at the door, the next she was at the end of his bed, crawling to him.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly, the momentum pushing Miche back down on the bed with her on top of him. He sighed, relieved that she wasn’t upset with him and he wrapped his arms tightly around her back, squeezing her gently. She pulled away enough to look at him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, laying her head on his shoulder.

He shifted her body so she was lying next to him and he pulled his arms around her again, turning to face her. He didn’t even care what would happen, he leaned in and gently kissed her forehead, resting his face against hers.

…..

The next morning, Y/N woke to Miche rubbing her head. She opened her eyes, squinting into the sun until his face came into focus. He was smiling at her.

“How did you sleep?” He rolled back and forth in his wheelchair.

“Surprisingly not good.” She sat up in bed.

Her blankets fell off and Miche stared at her shirt, his head tilting to the side a bit. She looked down, wondering what he was looking at. She quickly realized and looked back up at him, a huge grin on his face.

“That looks familiar,” he joked.

“I can explain this.”

“You missed me, didn’t you?” He teased.

“No! I just—It was… I wiped my nose on my pajamas so I threw them in the dirty pile and I already had your shirt in my room from when I was washing your stuff and I needed something to wear to sleep in and it was so easy to grab and you always look so comfortable when you wear it and I… missed you sleeping next to me.” She spoke quickly as her cheeks tinted pink.

“You missed me.” He goaded, smiling.

“I missed you.” They both stared at each other for a moment, each enjoying their shared feelings.

“Had I known that, I would have just stayed in here with you. It would have saved me some time.” He started. “Come on. I get my stitches out this morning.”

“Oh right!” She jumped out of bed, quickly throwing on her uniform before they both made their way downstairs to the sickbay.

“Today is the day Captain Zacharius.” Dr. Otto was washing his hands, Y/N quickly followed. “Any preference for which leg you would like to work on, Captain Y/L/N?”

“None, I’m just happy to make it through this first milestone.” She replied.

“Not as happy as me.” Miche laid himself down on the table.

Y/N and Dr. Otto each took a leg and began removing the stitches, while checking the skin’s healing.

“Everything looks good, just a few more.” Dr. Otto said. A couple minutes later they were done. Y/N put a smaller splint back on his left leg and Miche sat up.

“Do you want to try bending you knee?” She asked. “Don’t rush it, it’s likely not going to be easy at first.”

Miche moved his leg over the edge of the table, both legs were straight. He began lowering his right leg, it slowly bent easy enough, which made sense since that wasn’t in the larger splint for the last two weeks. He began lowering his left leg. He barely made a bend in the knee before his leg was shaking.

“Don’t rush it,” Y/N said, moving his leg back onto the table. “It probably won’t return to its full flexion until we can get that splint off of you.”

He looked up at her, worry in his eyes.

“Yes, you can still take a bath in your tub.” He let out a sigh of relief and she laughed.

The last two weeks of doing mini baths where Miche could only use a sponge while sitting in the wheelchair wiping down his warm bits wasn’t his idea of a bath. He wanted to submerge himself in his bathtub and scrub his entire body clean.

“Let’s get you up there,” she said, rolling him out of the sickbay. “Thanks, Dr. Otto.”

Upstairs, Y/N prepared Miche’s bath for him and then sat on his bed working while he was in the bathroom. For the next hour, all she heard was his groans and cheers along with a lot of splashing around. She smiled at how such a simple thing made him so happy.

While she was working, she noticed some strange marks and indentations in the wall across from her. She stood up to look at them, not knowing what they could be. Even if Miche got angry and for whatever reason hit the wall, they wouldn’t make marks like this.

She walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.

“Miche?” she called through the bathroom door, “What are those marks on the wall?”

“What marks?”

“The ones on the same wall to Hange’s room?”

“Oh, those.” His voice dropped. “My bed used to be there, but Hange asked me to move it.”

“Why would Hange ask you to move it?” Y/N was confused. It seems like a weird request considering it wasn’t Hange’s room and how would they know how Miche’s room was set up anyway?

“Uh… I uh…” He chuckled nervously. “I had a girlfriend at the time and I uh… I guess the noise of the bed hitting the wall—”

“I got it,” Y/N called to him. She felt stupid for not realizing it before asking. She looked at the bed frame and then at the indentations in the wall, they looked the same. She was sitting on the same bed that Miche had sex with other women on. She was surprised by how that thought made her feel. She wasn’t grossed out or uncomfortable. Instead she felt her heart drop and a small pain in her chest.

She wasn’t so stupid to believe that Miche has never been intimate with someone, but that little ache in her heart didn’t feel good either way.

A short while later she heard the door open and she looked up. He was wheeling himself out of the bathroom with his sweats and a t-shirt on. His hair was wet and the whole look made her feel warm and cozy.

“Can I ask a favor?” He wheeled over to the bed with something in his lap.

“Sure.”

“You want to help me trim my hair?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miche makes it through his difficult recovery. Lots of time passing in this one.

Five weeks after injury  
Miche crutched down the hallway after waiting a good thirty minutes in his room for Y/N. She was supposed to come in this morning for his physical therapy, but now he was wondering if maybe he was supposed to meet her somewhere. It was just after breakfast and everyone was moving around, the hallways were full and difficult to navigate through on crutches. He stood with his back against the wall as everyone passed and he noticed one of her newer soldiers.

“Marcus!” Miche called and the small, stocky man made his way over to him.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Have you seen Y/N?” Miche continued looking through the halls, hoping he would see her.

“Yes, sir. This morning, she told us to train with Captain Levi’s squad today.”

“Oh.” Miche thanked him and the cadet went off to his room. He crutched to Levi’s office next.

Levi was sitting at his desk with a cup of tea, working on paperwork when Miche knocked on the door and walked in. He stood up and leaned against the front of his desk when Miche walked in.

“Have you seen Y/N?”

“This morning, just before breakfast. Why?” the small man crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“She was supposed to meet me this morning, but I haven’t seen her.” He was about to crutch out.

“You should try her room,” Levi called just before he left. “She said she wasn’t feeling well so I imagine she went to sleep.” Miche nodded and headed that way.

Why didn’t I think to check her room first? He made his way back to the end of the hall and was about to knock when Erwin’s door opened.

“Oh, Miche.” He waved him over. “Perfect timing, please come inside.” Miche lowered his head and sighed, then followed Erwin to his office.

He took a seat across from his desk while Erwin sat at his desk and continued with the work he had out.

“What did you want to see me about?” Miche asked, wanting to get to Y/N to see how she was. Erwin sensed Miche’s urgency.

“Is everything alright?” He looked up from his desk. “How are your legs?”

“Great actually.” He glanced down, inspecting them. “The doctor said I should be off of crutches in a week or two. I don’t think I can start training for a couple more months though.”

“Well there’s no rush on that.” Erwin continued writing. “I’m happy to hear you’re healing well.”

The room was silent for a little as Erwin went back to his writing. Miche glanced at the wall to his left, wondering if Y/N was on the other side of it. He silently sniffed, trying to see if he could smell her from where he was.

“I have to say, I’m a little surprised at how long you’ve held it in.” Erwin said without looking up.

“Hmm?” Miche’s attention was back on Erwin, unsure of what he meant. “What do you mean?”

“I think you know.” Erwin looked up at him from his paper, his eyes then moving to the wall separating them from Y/N and back to Miche.

Miche froze for a second. Was Erwin talking about Y/N? He looked at the wall and back to Erwin, focusing on keeping his expression neutral.

“Y/N?” He tried to brush it off. “She’s my best friend. That’s not new.”

“Yes, but your obvious feelings for her are.” Erwin locked his fingers together, smiling at Miche. They held this pose for a little, neither one wanting to be the first to break. One of them did break though. Miche closed his eyes and sighed.

“Is it that obvious?” Miche asked, dropping his head to look at the floor.

“Not to everyone.” Erwin put his pen down. “Especially not to Y/N.”

“Good. I want to keep it that way. I don’t want to push her or anything.” Miche looked up. Erwin was smiling. “What? Why are you smiling?”

“You know, I didn’t think you were the type to lose yourself like this over a woman.”

“I didn’t either.” They both smiled. “My mistake was thinking she was only ever just a woman.”

“Well, go ahead,” Erwin told, “We can go over this later.”

Miche knocked lightly before opening Y/N’s bedroom door. Y/N was lying in bed, still asleep when he walked in. He sniffed the air. He could smell her, but there was another smell in the air with it. He quickly realized what was happening and stepped in, closing the bedroom door behind him.

He slowly made his way to her as quietly as he could. He leaned his crutches against the wall and sat on the bed, laying behind her and gently placing a hand on her stomach. She stirred awake, turning to face him.

“Is everything okay?” Her eyes barely open.

“Everything’s fine,” he told her. She heard his voice and remembered their meeting.

“Ugh, Miche. I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about your PT.” She started to turn to face him, but he stopped her.

“I just came to check on you. My hands are warm, I can put them on your stomach.” He moved his hand back to her front.

“It’s fine.” She sat up, looking at him. “I’ll be okay.”

“You’ll feel better with more rest.”

“I’ve rested a lot. It’s okay.”

“Why won’t you just let me take care of you?” He laughed, moving her to lay back down. “I want to do this for you.”

She laid back down and he wrapped his arm around her, his hand going to her stomach and she sighed as the warmth flowed through to the rest of her body.

Six weeks after injury  
Miche sat on the exam table, his legs dangling over the edge of it, toes barely touching the floor. Y/N stood next to him, his arm around her waist, while Dr. Otto stood on the other side of him.

“Are you ready?” She asked him, a small smile creeping on her face.

“I’m nervous,” Miche replied, his voice shaking a bit.

“It’s now or never.” Dr. Otto laughed.

Miche slowly slid to the edge of the table, shimmying his right hip then left hip until he was teetering on the edge. He set his right foot comfortably on the floor, the coolness of the tile sending a chill up his leg. He held his left leg up, hovering inches above the ground. He looked to Y/N who was standing under his arm and holding his waist, helping support him. She smiled and nodded at him.

He took a deep breath, getting himself ready for standing on both legs for the first time since his injury. He felt her rub his lower back to encourage him and he smiled before he gently rested his foot, first his toe, then the ball of his foot, and finally his heel onto the cold tile. He stood there for a second, taking in the feeling of standing on his own, well relatively on his own. He closed his eyes and smiled.

He turned to look at Y/N and lost his balance a bit, starting to fall forward. Y/N held his waist tighter and steadied him and they all let out sounds of excitement.

“Wonderful!” Dr. Otto clapped. “How does it feel?” Taking notes on his clipboard.

“It feels weird.” Miche smiled, wiggling his toes against the floor and losing his balance again.

“It will probably take a while to regain your balance.” Dr. Otto pushed his glasses up his nose. “Y/N will help you with that each day. I recommend waiting a couple weeks before trying to walk.”

“Okay.” Miche nodded, turning his attention to Y/N who was resting flush against his body, her arms around him as she looked up at him with a huge smile. He moved his hand from the exam table and wrapped it around her, pulling her even closer to him.

Two months after injury  
“This is definitely going to feel strange.” Y/N stood in front of Miche, helping him balance himself upright as he held onto her and the bathroom door.

“Everything feels strange these days.”

“You’ll get the hang of it fast enough. You got it?” She looked up at him and he nodded.

She started to back up a little towards her bed, letting go of his hands and leaving him to stand on his own. He still had a little trouble with balance, but a lot of that had to do with his height. The doctor had told them both that he would get better once he started walking.

“Wait—Wait… don’t leave me yet.” He started to wobble and she ran back over, grabbing his hands.

“I’ll stay with you, but you have to take the first step.” She put her hands in front of him so he could hold them when he wanted.

“I don’t even know if I remember how to do this.” He chuckled nervously.

“It will come back to you quickly.”

Miche took a deep breath and took a step, first his right leg. A lot of his weight was put on Y/N’s hands, but he was still moving without his crutches. He took another deep breath and lifted his left leg, slowly extending it forward, the motion feeling foreign to him. He set his left foot on the ground and exhaled deeply as if he was holding his breath. He brought his eyes to meet hers and smiled.

“You’re doing it!” She continued stepping backwards, encouraging him to keep going.

He took another step with his right leg, then left, then right again until Y/N’s knees it the back of the bed and she helped him sit, then sat next to him.

He held his face in his hands, his elbows balancing on his knees. He didn’t know why he was feeling so emotional, it was only a couple steps and even then, he was supported the whole time, but the thought that he was walking again, that he would be able to do the things he used to do again, that everything he had been through the last two months, it all came to him at once and his eyes started tearing up. He felt Y/N’s hand on his back and slowly looked up, wiping the tears that made it out from his cheeks.

He looked at her and realized she must have been feeling the same thing. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she had a huge smile on her face.

“You did it,” she said, wiping her cheeks and pulling him in for a hug. He was taken a little by surprise because she was never one to initiate a hug without him starting it off, he can count on one hand the amount of times she’s done it, but he certainly wasn’t going waste it. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her closer, savoring her warmth. She quickly pulled away, wiping her cheeks again.

Miche didn’t have any words. He just smiled to himself. He leaned back on the bed, propping his body up with his arms and looked down at his legs. They looked weak and full of scars, but he had so much hope.

“Let’s try again,” he said quietly. Y/N nodded.

They both stood up and went through the same couple steps again. Then they did it a third time and a fourth time. By the fifth time, Miche was ready to try it by himself. Y/N sat on the bed waiting for him.

“If I can do this, what will you give me?” He smiled while holding his balance with the bathroom door.

“Whatever you want,” she replied without hesitation. He raised an eyebrow at her.

“You’re going to regret that.” The five steps to the bed started to look slightly more daunting without the support of her arms.

He took a step forward while holding the bathroom door which earned him a ‘cheater’ from Y/N. He slowly let go of the door and stood there, right leg in front of him. He felt much more confident in his body since the first day he stood in the sick bay. He lifted his left leg and took a quick half-step, dropping his foot quickly to regain his balance.

“Shit…” He started breathing heavily as he took each step, his arms stretched out on either side of him.

His second and third steps were just as small as his first, but he was moving forward. Two more baby steps and he was nearly halfway there. He took another deep breath, relaxing himself as he tried to get the conviction to keep going. He took another step forward with his left leg, this time a little bigger than before. He had another step and a half left now. One last deep breath and he was there, holding the bed and Y/N’s arm for support as he sat down.

“You did it!” She was nearly bouncing out of excitement and he continued his heavy breathing, laying down on the bed. He didn’t realize just how much work that was for his legs.

“I think that might be it for today. My legs are pretty tired.”

“I can give you a massage later as your reward.” She offered.

“I have a different reward in mind.” He smiled, sitting up and looking forward at his legs.

“Alright, what is it?”

He turned to face her, still smiling. He could see the nervous look on her face and that only made him smile more. He moved his body a little closer to her, reaching his hand up to her face.

Her heart started beating quickly. What was he doing? Why was he touching her face? Her eyes widened a little as he leaned in slowly, getting closer to her face. She could feel her cheeks getting hot as he inched closer and closer. She watched him lick his lips and her mouth fell slightly open. He was so close to her now that she could feel the hot air from his breath fanning over her lips. Her eyes were fluttering closed as he leaned in.

She was frozen, waiting for the feeling of his lips to touch hers but instead felt nothing. His hand moved to the back of her head and she could feel his nose on her neck as he breathed her in. She opened her eyes, dumbfounded and slightly disappointed.

“I should have known.” She laughed.

Two and a half months after injury  
Y/N and Miche stood at the top of the steps early in the morning. They were limited with when he could practice since most times throughout the day cadets were running around.

“Would it be easier if I stood in front and you balanced your arms on my shoulders or if I stand next to you?” She was nervous the difficulty of doing stairs was going to discourage him and she wanted to make sure she was supporting him as much as she could.

“I don’t really want to lean forward to reach you. So maybe next to me.” He held her forearm and she held around his waist.

“Okay, first step.” She was smiling even though she was nervous.

He lifted his leg without any issue, but when he went to lower himself to the next step, his leg couldn’t hold his weight with a bent knee and he almost fell.

“Oh fuck…” He grimaced and his leg dropped to the step below. He was breathing heavily. “Shit… fuck… I didn’t expect it to be that hard.”

“It’s okay, it just takes a little to get used to. You’re lowering the entire weight of your body on one leg. You can do this.” Y/N moved to stand in front of him, facing him so he could put his weight more evenly between her arms.

He lifted the next leg up, trying to slowly lower himself to the step below, but instead dropped down like before.

“Are you sure I should be doing this? It feels wrong.” He looked at her, his face sweating from exertion.

“I’m sure. You got this.” She nodded.

It took them nearly ten minutes to get to the bottom of the steps where they took a break, getting something to eat.

“You will most likely progress faster going up stairs than you will going down. Down is a lot harder. Your legs aren’t used to that motion.” She tried to reassure him. Since they made it to the bottom of the steps, she could see how dejected he looked, a look she was trying to avoid. “You can do this, Miche.”

“Let’s get going. Everyone will be up soon.” He stood up, walking to the bottom of the steps. Y/N followed.

She was right, going up was much easier and faster for him to move though he relied heavily on her physical support. He wasn’t feeling as bad as she worried that he was feeling. It was a difficult recovery because he wasn’t consistently getting wins. He would be able to do something or get better at doing something and then take a step back by struggling with another. It was hard to hold that motivation when you weren’t always seeing progress.

…..

A little over a week later it was late at night, Y/N was already in her pajamas and everyone was asleep in their rooms when she heard a knock at her door.

“Yes?” She called, not wanting to leave her bed. She had grabbed some of her paperwork from her office and decided to work on it more comfortably.

She looked up as the door opened. Miche was standing in his “pajamas” leaning against the door frame with a huge grin on his face. In his hand was a bottle of wine.

“I got that wine for you.”

Four Months after injury  
For what seemed like the thousandth time, Miche sat down on the exam table in the sickbay. Today was the day, the last day he had to wear his leg brace. He had wanted Y/N to be there with him so badly, but a mission came up quickly and she was called out the day before. None of the scouts had returned since then and he was definitely starting to worry. As much as he trusted her with everything, he worried about how reckless she could be when it came to the safety of others. He wished he could just tell her to stop and think about herself before she thought about everyone else, but he knew how she would react to that.

“Good morning, Captain.” Dr. Otto rushed into the room the same way he always did. “I see Y/N hasn’t returned yet.”

“Not yet.” He couldn’t hide the concern in his voice and even Dr. Otto could hear it.

“Not to worry,” he comforted, “her stubbornness always prevails.”

Miche laughed in agreement. The doctor washed his hands and sat down in front of the table.

“Are you ready for this?” He asked, looking up at Miche over his glasses.

Miche wished Y/N was there with him. He wanted nothing more than to have her standing next to him during this moment. The last four months were some of the hardest he’s ever had. No mission compared to the difficulties of this recovery, but having her there with him made everything better. He took a deep breath and nodded at the doctor.

“Wait! Wait! —I’m here!” Y/N came running through the sickbay door. “I’m here!”

Miche looked up with a sigh of relief, almost laughing out of happiness. The feeling quickly faded as he saw her. Her face was covered in dirt, she had a cut on her temple and chin that was bleeding at one point but had long since dried up, her jacket and shirt were torn in several places showing cuts and bloodstains and she was holding her side.

“I got permission to skip the awards ceremony to get here.” She quickly pulled off her cape and dropped it on a table before making it over to stand next to Miche.

“Y/N…” he murmured. He moved his hands up to her face, looking at her cuts.

“It’s fine.” She moved his hands out of the way and smiled. “These are nothing. Let’s get this brace off of you.”

She turned to Dr. Otto and smiled, but Miche wasn’t taking his eyes off of her. He moved his hands to pull her as close as he could, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder. He couldn’t focus on anything, he just listened to the inhaling and exhaling of her breathing. Dr. Otto pulled off the brace and set it aside.

“Congratulations, Captain.” Dr. Otto smiled and looked up, noticing that Miche was staring at Y/N. She ran her fingers through his hair without noticing.

“Switch with me so you can take care of your cuts,” Miche said, holding her waist tighter. She nodded and Dr. Otto moved to his supply cabinet to get gauze and iodine.

Miche stepped down from the table and Y/N was about to step up to it when Miche picked her up and set her so she was laying down. He grabbed her hand and held it tightly while the doctor came back. She explained her injuries as she started sitting up and Miche quickly helped her.

“I have a couple face cuts and one on my shoulder. I think I may have bruised my ribs, but as far as I can tell, nothing is broken and the cuts aren’t deep.” She pulled off her jacket, handing it to Miche and unbuttoned her shirt, taking it off and handing it to Miche as well. Dr. Otto stepped up to her and looked at her injuries.

“Nothing too bad.” He lifted her tank top and checked the bruising on her ribs. “This should be healed in a day or so. Not to worry.”

The doctor lightly patted Miche’s arm to calm him and brought over the bandages from the end of the table. He quickly patched her up and moved to clean up the mess and leave, knowing they would want some privacy.

For a short while Miche just stared at her, worry still in his eyes.

“I’m fine.” She finally said. “You even heard Dr. Otto.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier to look at.” He sighed.

She was about to hop down from the exam table when he stopped her and put his hand up for her to wait. He walked over to the sink and grabbed a bowl, filling it with warm water and grabbing a sponge from the pile.

“What are you doing?” She asked, knowing exactly what he was doing.

He filled the sponge with the warm water and started wiping her face and slowly moved to her neck when he finished.

“You don’t have to do this.” She said.

“I want to.” He laid her down to wash her arms.

“Miche.”

“Just be happy you get to keep your clothes on.” He raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed, trying to keep the heat from reaching her cheeks. He finished up and put the bowl and sponge back over by the sink.

“So if you’re doing this for me,” she joked, sitting up and dangling her legs over the edge of the table, “does that mean you’re going to carry me up the stairs too?”

He laughed, leaning over the exam table and bringing his face closer to hers as he scrunched it up, thinking about it.

“I guess it’s only fair.” He smiled. She opened up her arms, ready to grab around his shoulders for a piggy back ride when she noticed that mischievous grin.

He leaned forward a bit more, grabbing her hips and pulling her hips up to his waist until their chests were flush against each other. The quick movement had her wrapping her arms around his neck for support. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers.

Their noses were touching, their faces so close together. Miche’s hot breath was moving over her lips, but she didn’t feel the need to pull away. She didn’t want to pull away. She wrapped her legs around his waist tighter and he dropped his head down to rest it in the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath.

“I think this was supposed to be a piggy back ride,” she breathed, laughing lightly and he smiled.

“I prefer it this way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to say, this chapter means a lot to me because I based it off of my own recovery when I tore my ACL. I don’t know if any of you have had a long recovery to an injury but it can be really difficult and lonely. I was really excited to give Miche hope as he recovered because I know how hard it is. I hope you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
